Meritor touts growth potential of remanufacturing at MERA Conference

Meritor Chairman, CEO and President Chip McClure told more than 150 industry executives that Meritor views remanufacturing as a critical component of the company's sustainability program.

"At Meritor, we consider sustainability an economic, social and environmental requirement for commercial success," McClure said.

McClure delivered the keynote address at the Remanufacturing and the Sustainable Organization conference in Troy, MI on October 2. The conference is produced by the Motor & Equipment Remanufacturers Association (MERA) and the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, which is part of the Rochester Institute of Technology, highights the benefits of using remanufactured components.

Meritor recently invested $3.7 million in its Plainfield, IN facility and during the last five years has invested more than $8 million in its global remanufacturing operations around the world. The company has eight remanufacturing facilities in five countries.

"It's not hard to see the increasing potential that remanufacturing holds for commercial vehicle suppliers," he said. "This is a $15.2 billion industry in the heavy-duty market and it's growing."

McClure acknowledged that material recycling gets a lot of attention for its impact on the environment, but product re-use actually has a greater bearing both ecologically and economically.

"The benefits of extending the life of a part that might otherwise be scrapped are huge," he said. "Remanufactured components produce a carbon footprint as much as 40 percent lower than original parts," he said.

The company is expanding its reman offerings globally with brake calipers, air systems, compressors and plans to add electronics and electronic controls and mechatronics. The company intends to double its sales of remanufactured products by 2020.

More than 24,000 tons of metal are recycled annually in Meritor's remanufacturing operations worldwide, and the company recycles 90 percent of all waste from its operations. More than 40,000 tons of cores, or original components, are processed at Meritor remanufacturing facilities annually.

Meritor recently received the Global Remanufacturer of the Year Award from ReMaTec magazine, a United Kingdom-based publication about the remanufacturing industry. The honor is Meritor's second remanufacturing-focused award. The company won the 2010 HDRG Heavy Duty Remanufacturer of the Year.